Well, the baptism went really well but it did take quite a few tries. We had
church in the morning and you could see that Twum was excited for his baptism
which was to be later that day at 5 PM. We were a bit worried we hadn't prepared
him and Buate (new convert from Ghana) with how to actually do the baptism. About an hour prior to the baptism we
instructed them for about 5-10 minutes and they had it down.
Well when it came time for the baptism Twum was the most inflexible
person I've ever seen. I thought that Africans could bend their knees and jump
out of the gym but Twum isn't one of these. It took about 5 plus tries to get it
accomplished. This included two failed attempts on his knees (still couldn't get
him all the way under). We also had one failed attempt when he was sitting on
his bum in the water with the water coming up to his lower lip (don't ask me how
we couldn't get him under on that one). Buate really needed to be forcing him
under the water better but oh well. Ha ha, baptism complete, with a few laughs. I
laughed a bit more as I went to see if they were done changing and heard that
they were arguing. Don't worry, it was a friendly argument but they immediately
asked me ''who's fault was it?''.
It was pretty hectic trying to
prepare everything for the baptism. Seeing how Twum speaks English the talks were
in English. One of the other new converts from Ghana gave the first talk which I
translated then subito dopo (after which) I gave the other talk. I also played both hymns
and set up the program haha. Meno male (thankfully) the baptism went through because I was
definitely stressed all Sunday.
Well we've dropped Romolo. He's been
giving us too many cancellations without a notification. He didn't sound too sad
about it though when I told him. I think he was probably too scared to tell us
he didn't want to see us anymore and was waiting for us to stop coming.
We are still working with Ivano. Really there isn't a whole lot to say
about his progress. He's comes to church every week, to the baptisms, he reads
and prays. We are trying to build his faith to accept baptism and be ready
when his leg heals. We are thinking that if he's not willing to be baptized or
follow chastity by the time his leg heals, we will drop him, too.
The
work is sort of back to ground zero again just like that. Twum is basically a
new convert, Felice is baptized and confirmed and we don't have anyone to teach.
I'm still really hopeful that we will start up again with Brunella once she gets
her car fixed and moves here. Other than that though we haven't had much success
in finding people.
The city is great! Sanremo is just perfect. We are
just passing some of the hottest weeks of the year, but it's starting to cool
down. The tourists should be leaving and the people from Sanremo should start
returning from vacation. It's a difficult city to get really good pictures taken,
but I will start getting on it. I haven't taken hardly any so far and it's got
all the other cities beat in pure beauty. The ocean breeze is the best and the
perfect medicine on hot and humid days.
It was good to get a good update
from Anz. Eveson about Pavia. I guess most of the Africans who were baptized
have moved away. There is still one left but I don't think he goes to church
often. Hopefully the others have found the church where they are now. Eveson
told me that Domingo hadn't been coming to church but that he had a strong
testimony and knowledge of the Gospel. He moved just recently to Chicago. I
guess he had work and was just tired on Sundays or something. Gianluca hadn't
been coming to church a lot either.
We've been doing so much finding
lately so we are praying that the Lord will hook us up. I've seen it time and
time again so I know the Lord will provide if we just stick in the sickle with
all our might. I have no doubt that we will have a successful transfer. Our
vision is to have one baptism and two baptismal dates before the transfer ends.
It's going to be tough but fun.
Looks like the girls are all grown up.
It seems as if Ashley has passed Hillary up in height. Sorry Hill. She better
not pass me or I will throw a fit.
Friday, August 31, 2012
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Race To The Finish
HEY guys!
Sounds like your week has been full of lots of fun; mine too! Man, from seeing those pictures it's pretty clear everyone has grown up a lot. I saw about half of Jack in one of them and thought it was me for a second. Do i dare even try to wrestle Ben when i get back? I did beat him before I left but I think I'll just stay clear. We will see.
Well transfer information is in. Anz. Free is going to take my arrival path and go to Verona as a Zone Leader with.....Anziano Hardy. Yeah don't worry I'm not at all jealous. He just gets to be with one of my favorite companions in a great city. Oh well.
I did get some updates about people in Verona. Martino, the kid who was baptized shortly after I left, received the priesthood recently and wants to be a missionary super bad. Salvatore Benemerito won't get married to Valentina (investigator) until she gets baptized. I was excited to hear that he's been continueing to go to church since I left along with Sorella Benemerito. His dad Angelo has gone twice since I left! He is actually really smart and spiritual but with health and other things he never came to church while I was there.
I'm going to be companions with Anz. Eveson(spelling?). I don't really know him super well but I've exchanged a few words during previous transfer days in Milano. I'm super glad that I always made the effort to make rounds and meet new missionaries. He's going into his 6th transfer and is really obedient from what I've been told. I'm really happy about that because I think it'll help me even more to finish strong and not fall on my face at the finish line. I don't know much about him other than that he's done good work in past cities. I guess I'll know more tomorrow.
Well you asked about Twum. Twum didn't come to church the Sunday before his baptism and so we didn't announce it. We wanted him to be there and really set for his baptism. He is getting baptized though this Sunday. One of the other brothers, Buate, will be baptizing him and I think I will do the confirmation. Twum is doing great though and is excited for sunday!
Ivano is Ivano and we are moving like molasses, but it's ok. The key is that we are moving forward even if it's slow. Valentina we haven't seen in weeks. Since we first saw her she's been working and hasn't really answered our calls. She said a few weeks ago though that she was reading the BoM every night.
On Saturday morning we though that we had lost Romolo. We got to his house and he told us he was moving back to Peru. His wife's documents weren't going through and so he wants to move back. He was not doing well and was very sad/depressed. Luckily we had planned to watch Finding Faith in Christ! dunnuh nuh nuh nneh neh!(sound). At first when we asked to watch it he told us no but we convinced him.
As we watched in Spanish(I understood lots..cool huh?) there was a great spirit felt. I felt it stronger then more than any other time I've watched it in the mission. As we finished you could see that the spirit had slapped Romolo in the face. He even told us that he wanted to start committing himself more to church and reading the Book of Mormon. Sunday he came to church and liked it a lot.
We haven't seen Brunella in over a week. She's been stuck at her house near Imperia because her car is broken. She is thinking about moving though to Sanremo and transferring her work records to the Sanremo hopsital. If it all goes down it would be AWESOME. She would be around people who love her and closer to the church. We are still working on trying to get someone to go and see her.
Sujey is actually a less-active member. She is now really good friends though with Yajaira, Steve's (Cangiolosi) wife. She comes with us to all the lessons with Sujey. This last lesson though Sujey's mom, Jenny, listened to us. She, too, is a member but when she came here to Italy she stopped attending. Apparently she wants to start coming! I've been learning a bit of Spanish lately because Sujey doesn't speak Italian. It's actually came pretty easy even though I still can't really say anything.
My testimony though of Heavenly Father's love for his children grows ever stronger each day. He's taken our work from nothing to something in days. He is just always watching out for us and for this branch here. The cycle of success and no success though continues to strengthen my diligence/faith. There have been so many times when the work goes well then just disappears. He makes us wait and work our butts off then blesses us right when we need it. Verona was a bit tougher than most, but He would always bless us right as we truly needed it.
I feel that the last two cities I've been in have grown me more than the rest of the mission combined. I do believe though that the previous transfers and cities prepared me and put me into position to be changed and blessed like I've been in the last 6 months. I try not to worry so much now about all my defects because there are still so many. It can be stressful but I'm getting better at just doing my best each day. It'll be a fun race to the finish line to see how much more I can change and help those around me.
Sounds like your week has been full of lots of fun; mine too! Man, from seeing those pictures it's pretty clear everyone has grown up a lot. I saw about half of Jack in one of them and thought it was me for a second. Do i dare even try to wrestle Ben when i get back? I did beat him before I left but I think I'll just stay clear. We will see.
Well transfer information is in. Anz. Free is going to take my arrival path and go to Verona as a Zone Leader with.....Anziano Hardy. Yeah don't worry I'm not at all jealous. He just gets to be with one of my favorite companions in a great city. Oh well.
I did get some updates about people in Verona. Martino, the kid who was baptized shortly after I left, received the priesthood recently and wants to be a missionary super bad. Salvatore Benemerito won't get married to Valentina (investigator) until she gets baptized. I was excited to hear that he's been continueing to go to church since I left along with Sorella Benemerito. His dad Angelo has gone twice since I left! He is actually really smart and spiritual but with health and other things he never came to church while I was there.
I'm going to be companions with Anz. Eveson(spelling?). I don't really know him super well but I've exchanged a few words during previous transfer days in Milano. I'm super glad that I always made the effort to make rounds and meet new missionaries. He's going into his 6th transfer and is really obedient from what I've been told. I'm really happy about that because I think it'll help me even more to finish strong and not fall on my face at the finish line. I don't know much about him other than that he's done good work in past cities. I guess I'll know more tomorrow.
Well you asked about Twum. Twum didn't come to church the Sunday before his baptism and so we didn't announce it. We wanted him to be there and really set for his baptism. He is getting baptized though this Sunday. One of the other brothers, Buate, will be baptizing him and I think I will do the confirmation. Twum is doing great though and is excited for sunday!
Ivano is Ivano and we are moving like molasses, but it's ok. The key is that we are moving forward even if it's slow. Valentina we haven't seen in weeks. Since we first saw her she's been working and hasn't really answered our calls. She said a few weeks ago though that she was reading the BoM every night.
On Saturday morning we though that we had lost Romolo. We got to his house and he told us he was moving back to Peru. His wife's documents weren't going through and so he wants to move back. He was not doing well and was very sad/depressed. Luckily we had planned to watch Finding Faith in Christ! dunnuh nuh nuh nneh neh!(sound). At first when we asked to watch it he told us no but we convinced him.
As we watched in Spanish(I understood lots..cool huh?) there was a great spirit felt. I felt it stronger then more than any other time I've watched it in the mission. As we finished you could see that the spirit had slapped Romolo in the face. He even told us that he wanted to start committing himself more to church and reading the Book of Mormon. Sunday he came to church and liked it a lot.
We haven't seen Brunella in over a week. She's been stuck at her house near Imperia because her car is broken. She is thinking about moving though to Sanremo and transferring her work records to the Sanremo hopsital. If it all goes down it would be AWESOME. She would be around people who love her and closer to the church. We are still working on trying to get someone to go and see her.
Sujey is actually a less-active member. She is now really good friends though with Yajaira, Steve's (Cangiolosi) wife. She comes with us to all the lessons with Sujey. This last lesson though Sujey's mom, Jenny, listened to us. She, too, is a member but when she came here to Italy she stopped attending. Apparently she wants to start coming! I've been learning a bit of Spanish lately because Sujey doesn't speak Italian. It's actually came pretty easy even though I still can't really say anything.
My testimony though of Heavenly Father's love for his children grows ever stronger each day. He's taken our work from nothing to something in days. He is just always watching out for us and for this branch here. The cycle of success and no success though continues to strengthen my diligence/faith. There have been so many times when the work goes well then just disappears. He makes us wait and work our butts off then blesses us right when we need it. Verona was a bit tougher than most, but He would always bless us right as we truly needed it.
I feel that the last two cities I've been in have grown me more than the rest of the mission combined. I do believe though that the previous transfers and cities prepared me and put me into position to be changed and blessed like I've been in the last 6 months. I try not to worry so much now about all my defects because there are still so many. It can be stressful but I'm getting better at just doing my best each day. It'll be a fun race to the finish line to see how much more I can change and help those around me.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Lost Sheep
Ferragosto!....You know what that means!...Everyone comes to Sanremo. The
last few days the streets have had a lot more people in them. There have been
tons of Germans, French and others all over the place. We're hoping the
crowding of the streets will be a positive instead of a negative. We will treat
it as a positive though.
The confirmation on Sunday went great! Felice is felice (happy) and no pun intended. He is doing really great and his wife is just contentissima (so content). We've actually really been working with her and her own missionary work. She has a few friends she wants to introduce the Gospel to hopefully something will pan out.
The confirmation on Sunday went great! Felice is felice (happy) and no pun intended. He is doing really great and his wife is just contentissima (so content). We've actually really been working with her and her own missionary work. She has a few friends she wants to introduce the Gospel to hopefully something will pan out.
 |
| Anziano Free, Edith, Michel, Felice, Anziano Neff |
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| Anziani Neff and Free with Felice |
Everything with Ivano is going forward. Still it goes slowly AVANTI (ahead). One of
his legs is healed and he's really started recognizing the help of our Heavenly
Father in his process. We invited him to baptism for a date next month but he
doesn't feel like his leg will heal in time. We personally think he's not ready
to obey Chastity yet. He did say though that he thinks by Christmas time he
would be ready.! It's a bit off but I think it's good that he is thinking
himself about when he could be ready. He said it in a way that sounded like he
actually wants it. We are happy with his progress.
This Sunday we got this really great less-active person to church. A few
weeks ago we met Sujey who is from Santo Domingo. She is about 25 years old and
has two kids, Adon and Aura. Her mother and younger brother are also both
members! Anyways, we've seen them twice and are all super great (we haven't
taught the mom yet). They didn't know the church was here but they were already
less-active upon arrival in Sanremo. Both times we taught them we were able to
get a member there and seeing how they don't speak Italian or understand it, it
was difficult. Anz. Free used to speak pretty good Spanish but with learning
Italian everything sort of got lost. He still speaks decently but I sort of just
throw out Italian, praying they understand.
Well we walked with them to church on Sunday, Sujey and her two children.
It was super awesome to have Yajaira, Steve's wife there, because she's from
Santo Domingo. They hit it off and had a great time in church. The two kids Adon
5 years, and Aura about 3 years also seemed to just love Primary. Yaraira in
fact spent much of yesterday evening with their family and got really close with
them. I guess she said that Sujey wants to help her family all get close again
to the church. It's great how the Lord is always preparing his children both
members and non-members. He uses all of us as instruments to better help his
other ''lost sheep''.
There has been a bit of a comeback with Romolo this week. We had basically
dropped him on account of his multiple cancellations and bidones (no shows). We finally set
an appointment up though and were able to have a good spiritual lesson. Over the
last week he's been struggling with depression. There have been lots of
problems with his wife's documents. She is currently in Peru still and hasn't
been able to get here. It's been really rough on Romolo and he's just
preoccupied a lot with this situation. It was great to bear testimony about how
Prayer and reading of the B of M can really help him in this time. It was great
to see a lot of the burdens be lifted off his back after he said the closing
prayer. There was a good peaceful spirit and he recognized it too. We plan on
seeing him again tomorrow night.
Everything is going great here and I hope it's all going great
there!....Any chance on having Dianna's baby named after her favorite
nephew?.....at least get my name as the middle name...just saying.
Sorry to hear that Hill and her team lost. They'll tear it up though during
the regular season. When Ben gets an interception we have to get the announcer
at his games to call him Benny the Jet. If not I'll be there with a big Benny
the Jet sign.
Anyways thanks so much for the letters. It was great hearing from you.
Talk to ya next week.
Love,
Tuck.
Tuck.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
The Baptism! It Went GREAT!
What Up?....hey family
Well I've just been super lucky this summer. I get to serve in a beautiful city with some great members, and it's not that hot! There have been some hot days but nothing like last year in Modena. I remember just walking outside in the mornings around 10ish and thinking ''oh boy''. Everything has been really nice though lately. Hopefully I didn't just jinx us because there is still almost all of August.
I think that I will go and try to buy a watercolor painting. They have some really good ones of Sanremo that are decently priced (i hope). I honestly don't know if they are well priced but they are about 20x11 for 20 to 30 Euro. I will keep searching to see what else I like though. It's tough on PDay though because we rarely have time to look and I can't be wasting time other days by window shopping. haha Dad you think I can just take 15 minutes out of my day to go to Venice?....''Come on''.(Job voice).
The baptism! It went GREAT. Felice is the the worst at making jokes at the wrong times haha. For example, Sunday we are in church preparing for the baptism. It is around 4:30 pm and Felice and his family were supposed to be there around 4. We weren't worrying to much but we called them to see where they were. Felice answers and says''Hey so I've decided to not be baptized''. Of course I knew he wasn't being serious but when you hear something like that it makes you contemplate things for just a second. I immediately responded though with a joking remark. haha. He just thought he was so funny.
Edith, his wife, had the video camera out and was filming all the way up until the program started. We took a bunch of pictures and it was great. Anziano Free baptized him, we watched a small little video about baptism before they changed and came back in. He wasn't going to bear his testimony but Steve sort of tricked him into it. It was short but super great. He bore testimony about as he entered the water the spirit told him, ''Felice you're starting a really marvelous thing''. It was super awesome to see how happy he and his wife were. He will be confirmed next Sunday.
As far as the work goes, Ivano had a good experience at the baptism. He said he felt really peaceful during the whole program. He told us the other day that his leg has healed! That is fantastic because it was one of the things preventing him from being baptized. Now the only thing left is the chastity hurdle. His girlfriend isn't even around but he doesn't really want to give it up for when she gets back. He really just doesn't understand or see the importance of it yet. Hopefully during the next few weeks he can get a testimony of it as his girlfriend is away.
Romolo has been non-existent the last week or two. We set up appointments and he just doesn't show up or isn't home when we pass by.
So for the last month or so we have been struggling to find new people. I think over the last month or so we have found 3 investigators. Two of these have dropped off though since then. We've been working harder and praying to find people but we've been unsuccessful. We fasted on Sunday about getting new people but even as we worked Monday we just had zero success. Over the last few days though we've had some really good things happen that didn't necessarily come from our efforts.
There is this member referral, Brunella, that recently met a family in the branch (the Cangilosi's). Brunella doesn't have a family, work and lives alone. They met her at a pool a few weeks back and are just good friends now. She's been to their house a few times and they brought her to church on Sunday. She's been facing depression lately and it's been tough on her. Anyway she liked church enough to stay for the baptism 5 hours later. We got a call a few minutes ago from Yariara, Steve Cangilosi wife, and I guess Brunella wants to know more and meet with us. Tomorrow we are going to see her in church with Yajaira! She's super prepared so pray that the lesson goes well.
If I remember correctly I mentioned Valentina week or two ago . Well we haven't seen her since the first lesson because she's been busy. We kind of thought that she lost interest or something. Well the other day I texted her and asked if she still had interest in meeting with us. She said she does but she had found work and it is keeping her busy. I told her that she should call us when she's free and invited her to start reading the BoM we had given to her. I was shocked with the response when she said ''I read every night before going to bed'' Cool eh?
Twum is coming along great! He will be baptized on the 18th. He's just super humble and willing to accept the gospel. We are super excited for him. Things in the work are going well for us lately. We have a few new faces and are so hopefully next week I can talk about the successes we hope to have had.
Dad you should ask Andy what the ClearLink job would entail. What would I do and how much would I work? The four week intense college courses interest me but it could be great little window between arrival and spring semester to bolster my savings. Che cosa ne pensi? Dimmi tu.
Well it sounds as if all is going well. Thanks for sending me the tidbit about Hill's game. Make sure you tell me about how Ben is doing in football? I will want to attend their games when I get back for sure.
Well I've just been super lucky this summer. I get to serve in a beautiful city with some great members, and it's not that hot! There have been some hot days but nothing like last year in Modena. I remember just walking outside in the mornings around 10ish and thinking ''oh boy''. Everything has been really nice though lately. Hopefully I didn't just jinx us because there is still almost all of August.
I think that I will go and try to buy a watercolor painting. They have some really good ones of Sanremo that are decently priced (i hope). I honestly don't know if they are well priced but they are about 20x11 for 20 to 30 Euro. I will keep searching to see what else I like though. It's tough on PDay though because we rarely have time to look and I can't be wasting time other days by window shopping. haha Dad you think I can just take 15 minutes out of my day to go to Venice?....''Come on''.(Job voice).
The baptism! It went GREAT. Felice is the the worst at making jokes at the wrong times haha. For example, Sunday we are in church preparing for the baptism. It is around 4:30 pm and Felice and his family were supposed to be there around 4. We weren't worrying to much but we called them to see where they were. Felice answers and says''Hey so I've decided to not be baptized''. Of course I knew he wasn't being serious but when you hear something like that it makes you contemplate things for just a second. I immediately responded though with a joking remark. haha. He just thought he was so funny.
Edith, his wife, had the video camera out and was filming all the way up until the program started. We took a bunch of pictures and it was great. Anziano Free baptized him, we watched a small little video about baptism before they changed and came back in. He wasn't going to bear his testimony but Steve sort of tricked him into it. It was short but super great. He bore testimony about as he entered the water the spirit told him, ''Felice you're starting a really marvelous thing''. It was super awesome to see how happy he and his wife were. He will be confirmed next Sunday.
As far as the work goes, Ivano had a good experience at the baptism. He said he felt really peaceful during the whole program. He told us the other day that his leg has healed! That is fantastic because it was one of the things preventing him from being baptized. Now the only thing left is the chastity hurdle. His girlfriend isn't even around but he doesn't really want to give it up for when she gets back. He really just doesn't understand or see the importance of it yet. Hopefully during the next few weeks he can get a testimony of it as his girlfriend is away.
Romolo has been non-existent the last week or two. We set up appointments and he just doesn't show up or isn't home when we pass by.
So for the last month or so we have been struggling to find new people. I think over the last month or so we have found 3 investigators. Two of these have dropped off though since then. We've been working harder and praying to find people but we've been unsuccessful. We fasted on Sunday about getting new people but even as we worked Monday we just had zero success. Over the last few days though we've had some really good things happen that didn't necessarily come from our efforts.
There is this member referral, Brunella, that recently met a family in the branch (the Cangilosi's). Brunella doesn't have a family, work and lives alone. They met her at a pool a few weeks back and are just good friends now. She's been to their house a few times and they brought her to church on Sunday. She's been facing depression lately and it's been tough on her. Anyway she liked church enough to stay for the baptism 5 hours later. We got a call a few minutes ago from Yariara, Steve Cangilosi wife, and I guess Brunella wants to know more and meet with us. Tomorrow we are going to see her in church with Yajaira! She's super prepared so pray that the lesson goes well.
If I remember correctly I mentioned Valentina week or two ago . Well we haven't seen her since the first lesson because she's been busy. We kind of thought that she lost interest or something. Well the other day I texted her and asked if she still had interest in meeting with us. She said she does but she had found work and it is keeping her busy. I told her that she should call us when she's free and invited her to start reading the BoM we had given to her. I was shocked with the response when she said ''I read every night before going to bed'' Cool eh?
Twum is coming along great! He will be baptized on the 18th. He's just super humble and willing to accept the gospel. We are super excited for him. Things in the work are going well for us lately. We have a few new faces and are so hopefully next week I can talk about the successes we hope to have had.
Dad you should ask Andy what the ClearLink job would entail. What would I do and how much would I work? The four week intense college courses interest me but it could be great little window between arrival and spring semester to bolster my savings. Che cosa ne pensi? Dimmi tu.
Well it sounds as if all is going well. Thanks for sending me the tidbit about Hill's game. Make sure you tell me about how Ben is doing in football? I will want to attend their games when I get back for sure.
Felice Is Getting Baptized Sunday!
Hello Hello!
Yeah well everything pretty much blew over with F (the member I discussed last week). Friday morning we actually remembered we had a lunch appointment with them that day. I was a bit nervous and wasn't even sure they remembered about the appointment. Well they did so of course we went. I was able to play it really cool and just was my self. Having a deep knowledge of the doctrine about Christ, F talks a lot about his ''discoveries''.
Usually I sort of just zone out and don't really listen but I've been trying to show a renewed focus. I think it will help him think and see that I do care what he has to say. It worked really good too during lunch. At first you could see that he didn't really want to talk but I asked questions and he quickly just started pouring out info. It was a big burden off my shoulders to see that it had sort of blown over.
So Felice is getting baptized Sunday! Yahoo! We are really excited and I think the ward is excited as well. They really need another solid Priesthood holder. He a bit nervous but excited as well. We brought Fratello Salemi, the second counselor, to the lesson. He was baptized about 27 years ago. Get this, he took all the lessons 7 times through before getting baptized. Anyways the lesson went really well. Edith and Felice had so many good things to say about us as well as Fratello Salemi. I guess he helped her out financially before she was married to Felice. She kept going on about the financial aid haha and I think it made Fratello Salemi uncomfortable.
Everyone else, Ivano, Romolo and Twum all made really good progress this week. Ivano made it to two hours of church so we were really excited about that. He made some good answers as well during Gospel Principles. Hopefully we can just keep edging him forward and helping him progress. I think it will be soon that he decides to follow all the commandments and get baptized.
Romolo is coming along a bit slower than we originally thought. He's struggling to understand us and understand the Book of Mormon. He speaks and understands fine but things just don't click in his head for some odd reason. The questions he has about the things he reads are good but just odd. When we ask him questions about what we've taught he gives us the same answers. He doesn't really answer the questions we ask but instead says every time ''I like the story of Nephi and I want to learn more'' or ''Yeah, I just want to keep learning about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon''. It's a great thing to hear right? Well we hear this when we ask him, ''Romolo, do you believe the Book of Mormon is true?''. haha it's difficult. He speaks good Italian too so we know it's not the language barrier. My companion seems to think that he's afraid to say no to our questions because we might not come back. Tonight we are hoping to overcome this and really dig into him with some good questions and following of the spirit.
Twum is working towards his date on the 18th. He's still just a man of few words. Luckily we have the other brothers from Ghana to help translate. We just hope they are translating correctly. Twum seems like he understands English better everyday though.
A few of the new converts from Ghana, Noah and Frederick, are getting really whiffy. They didn't come to church last week and the week before they left early. When we asked them why one said he was sick. He's only sick on Sundays though and is better the next day. The other said he was tired. When we told him that even if he's tired he needs to come. He responded by saying it's more important to God that we are healthy and have energy. haha. He is one of the brothers that speaks the worst. We explained that we keep the Sabbath Day Holy by going to church. He then said, ''well it's the same if I stay here and talk about the Word with two or three other people''. AGH...THE SACRAMENT Frederick! We go to church to take the sacrament haha. He still didn't really fully understand.
Well tomorrow we get to ride 7 hours in train to Padova! Then on Friday we have to do some permesso stuff for my companion and we return immediately after. Last week when we came back from Padova it was just death. Those 7 hours were miserable. I should have done better at sharing the gospel. Talking on trains and buses is definitely outside of my comfort zone but I'm going to try and get a little better this time.
I feel that lately my spiritual level has been rising. I think a lot has to do with my prayers and focus in studying the scriptures. There are just things that always seem to need to improve. My weakness is that I recognize them all at once, which is good and bad. Good because I know what I need to do but bad because I try to do all at once and get frustrated.
Lately our district has been struggling to find new investigators. We've been working hard in finding them but we aren't seeing success. We realized with the help of our Capi, that we need to be finding people even when we are doing scheduled finding work. I sort of realized that we need to be more focused on the people as we find.
Well regarding the baby names....I was totally joking about the names I through out a few weeks ago. I'm definitely a big fan of the girl names. If they don't use either I might use the other but I still got some other ones up my sleeve. I've heard a lot of Italian girl names that I've loved but I never write them down! Idiot. I wish I could give them some options but it seems I never have a free moment to think about that sort of stuff. The closer I get to the finish line the more I feel like there is less time each day to do things.
I'm still doing the journal thing but I've missed a few days. Don't worry though I will be better. I haven't missed too many, just a few.
So in terms of getting a painting. Do you think a water color painting would be dumb? I saw some and they weren't too expensive. If i do, would I bring it home with me or send it via packaging?
Anyways...how is everything? Anything interesting happening? Heard of any of my friends getting married? (I guess you don't really know all of them). I think just about all of them are back from missions except a few. Any update on Connor and what he's doing, that nerd still never writes. What has Trentsky been up to lately? How's TJ?
Well thanks for your emails. Things are really winding down but don't worry I'm busier than ever. I'm just trying to utilize the time that I have left to do as much as I can for the Lord and this Branch here.
Love you guys a bunch.
Yeah well everything pretty much blew over with F (the member I discussed last week). Friday morning we actually remembered we had a lunch appointment with them that day. I was a bit nervous and wasn't even sure they remembered about the appointment. Well they did so of course we went. I was able to play it really cool and just was my self. Having a deep knowledge of the doctrine about Christ, F talks a lot about his ''discoveries''.
Usually I sort of just zone out and don't really listen but I've been trying to show a renewed focus. I think it will help him think and see that I do care what he has to say. It worked really good too during lunch. At first you could see that he didn't really want to talk but I asked questions and he quickly just started pouring out info. It was a big burden off my shoulders to see that it had sort of blown over.
So Felice is getting baptized Sunday! Yahoo! We are really excited and I think the ward is excited as well. They really need another solid Priesthood holder. He a bit nervous but excited as well. We brought Fratello Salemi, the second counselor, to the lesson. He was baptized about 27 years ago. Get this, he took all the lessons 7 times through before getting baptized. Anyways the lesson went really well. Edith and Felice had so many good things to say about us as well as Fratello Salemi. I guess he helped her out financially before she was married to Felice. She kept going on about the financial aid haha and I think it made Fratello Salemi uncomfortable.
 |
| Edith, Felice, Michel & Anziano Neff |
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| Felice, Michel, Anziani Free & Neff |
Everyone else, Ivano, Romolo and Twum all made really good progress this week. Ivano made it to two hours of church so we were really excited about that. He made some good answers as well during Gospel Principles. Hopefully we can just keep edging him forward and helping him progress. I think it will be soon that he decides to follow all the commandments and get baptized.
Romolo is coming along a bit slower than we originally thought. He's struggling to understand us and understand the Book of Mormon. He speaks and understands fine but things just don't click in his head for some odd reason. The questions he has about the things he reads are good but just odd. When we ask him questions about what we've taught he gives us the same answers. He doesn't really answer the questions we ask but instead says every time ''I like the story of Nephi and I want to learn more'' or ''Yeah, I just want to keep learning about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon''. It's a great thing to hear right? Well we hear this when we ask him, ''Romolo, do you believe the Book of Mormon is true?''. haha it's difficult. He speaks good Italian too so we know it's not the language barrier. My companion seems to think that he's afraid to say no to our questions because we might not come back. Tonight we are hoping to overcome this and really dig into him with some good questions and following of the spirit.
Twum is working towards his date on the 18th. He's still just a man of few words. Luckily we have the other brothers from Ghana to help translate. We just hope they are translating correctly. Twum seems like he understands English better everyday though.
A few of the new converts from Ghana, Noah and Frederick, are getting really whiffy. They didn't come to church last week and the week before they left early. When we asked them why one said he was sick. He's only sick on Sundays though and is better the next day. The other said he was tired. When we told him that even if he's tired he needs to come. He responded by saying it's more important to God that we are healthy and have energy. haha. He is one of the brothers that speaks the worst. We explained that we keep the Sabbath Day Holy by going to church. He then said, ''well it's the same if I stay here and talk about the Word with two or three other people''. AGH...THE SACRAMENT Frederick! We go to church to take the sacrament haha. He still didn't really fully understand.
Well tomorrow we get to ride 7 hours in train to Padova! Then on Friday we have to do some permesso stuff for my companion and we return immediately after. Last week when we came back from Padova it was just death. Those 7 hours were miserable. I should have done better at sharing the gospel. Talking on trains and buses is definitely outside of my comfort zone but I'm going to try and get a little better this time.
 |
| Elders Free & Neff waiting at the Genova Train Station |
 |
| Anziano Neff & Nicholas (new convert from Ghana) |
I feel that lately my spiritual level has been rising. I think a lot has to do with my prayers and focus in studying the scriptures. There are just things that always seem to need to improve. My weakness is that I recognize them all at once, which is good and bad. Good because I know what I need to do but bad because I try to do all at once and get frustrated.
Lately our district has been struggling to find new investigators. We've been working hard in finding them but we aren't seeing success. We realized with the help of our Capi, that we need to be finding people even when we are doing scheduled finding work. I sort of realized that we need to be more focused on the people as we find.
Well regarding the baby names....I was totally joking about the names I through out a few weeks ago. I'm definitely a big fan of the girl names. If they don't use either I might use the other but I still got some other ones up my sleeve. I've heard a lot of Italian girl names that I've loved but I never write them down! Idiot. I wish I could give them some options but it seems I never have a free moment to think about that sort of stuff. The closer I get to the finish line the more I feel like there is less time each day to do things.
I'm still doing the journal thing but I've missed a few days. Don't worry though I will be better. I haven't missed too many, just a few.
So in terms of getting a painting. Do you think a water color painting would be dumb? I saw some and they weren't too expensive. If i do, would I bring it home with me or send it via packaging?
Anyways...how is everything? Anything interesting happening? Heard of any of my friends getting married? (I guess you don't really know all of them). I think just about all of them are back from missions except a few. Any update on Connor and what he's doing, that nerd still never writes. What has Trentsky been up to lately? How's TJ?
Well thanks for your emails. Things are really winding down but don't worry I'm busier than ever. I'm just trying to utilize the time that I have left to do as much as I can for the Lord and this Branch here.
Love you guys a bunch.
Monday, August 6, 2012
Kind, Open and Elect
I remember you commenting last week about the new stake, and it's a
big thing. The work is growing in Italy.....ansi...The work is growing in
Northern Italy! It's been great to see how much the mission is
growing.
Felice had his baptismal interview yesterday and is set to be baptized the 5th of August! We moved it back a week so he could come to sacrament meeting one additional time. He accepted tithing on Saturday after a wonderful lesson with us together with our Ward Mission Leader Steve and his wife Yajiara. They are super awesome and bore great testimony about the importance of paying tithing. Of course Felice's a bit worried about it, but knows it's a commandment.
Twum had fallen off a bit after giving us multiple bidones over a two week period. He's been good lately though and we've been going forward. We've reset his date for the 18th of August. We really want to help him understand things and be better committed to meeting with us and coming to church. If he's wiffy now he'll probably be wiffy after.
Ivano is just sort of teetering right now. He's making slow progress but at the same time not really. He comes to sacrament meeting almost every week but goes home afterward. His excuse for leaving is that his legs hurt and he has the bus to catch. We invited him this past week to attend all of church and he committed to coming for the first two hours. We accepted his bargain and were excited because we want him to become friends with the members. By coming just to the first hour he can't really talk with people because it's sacrament meeting. Well Sunday rolls around and right after sacrament meeting ends he says ''oggi perdo la promessa''. He tells us I have to break the promise. I ask him why and he says that he has to catch the bus. My patience has been thin lately. Heavenly Father is simple, we are blessed when we obey and when we don't we aren't blessed.
I told him really really bluntly that Heavenly Father can't bless him if he doesn't obey and show his Faith. I probably could have been a bit more kind or loving about it but Ivano has just not been making the progress he needs to. I think if anything though he saw that I was greatly disappointed because I was. The guy is great but he needs to really show his faith in Heavenly Father.
So actually my entire Sunday was just crazy. Romolo said he would come to church yet he wasn't home when we passed by to pick him up for church. His mom said he went on a bike ride with his squad. Our new converts said they had work to do at their house so half of them left after sacrament meeting.
I got a member to basically hate me after making a comment during Gospel Principles. The member is F. I will give a quick explanation. F is really really into deep doctrine. He's super smart and is always trying to tell us stuff. Well, since I've been here he comes to Gospel Principles which is for new member and investigators. For the last three or four weeks he has been getting lesson off-track and isn't super helpful. For example, last week we were talking about Faith. When we compared it to a plant he starts talking about how all plants and animals have their own spirits. He went really in depth about it; I won't explain the rest. Well when we finally got over that and continued with the lesson he started talking about it again. He brought it back to his subject and not the class subject.
Well this Sunday as we talked about repentance F starts talking about the Atonement. Of course they go together, I know that. Well he starts going into depth about there being many other worlds and what not. We finally get past that and continue on with the lesson and he continues commenting on the Atonement and other in depth principles of the Atonement. Let me remind you again this is with investigators and new converts. I had about enough of it so I quickly said, ''Torniamo al discorso''. I said we need to return to the lesson. It probably wasn't in the most polite tone but it wasn't a rude tone either.
During lunch time about two hours later while we were at home I get a call from F. He just starts talking my ear off. He was thinking that I was trying to correct him on the doctrine he'd been sharing with the class. I quickly said that that wasn't what I was trying to do. I explained that the class is a basic learning class and we need to leave out profound/in depth information. He just exploded about how the Atonement is the most important thing ever, which it is, and how it must always be taught. He went onto say, the spirit in Gospel Principles used to be great but since ''certain'' people have arrived it hasn't been the same.
Anyways he got super mad and I was a bit annoyed but not mad. It was evident he'd been just brewing over my ''torniamo al discorso'' comment. I was just amazed to see a first counsel/member of many years call me and explode on me like that. I quickly sent an apology text because my mind was racing and i wouldn't have been able to express myself in Italian. An hour or so later I called him and apologized again but it was evident he was upset. Oh well..
I feel a lot better having said sorry and repenting but I think he hates me now. Our ward mission leader told me that is just how F sort of is though. He said I shouldn't worry too much.
We all make mistakes.
On another note we found this really awesome investigator. Her name is Valentine and she's 24 years old. We found her the other night on the bike path right at the end of the day. We had been doing strada for awhile and we felt that we should stop and pray. We asked to know where to go and after the pray we both decided on the bike path. Within a few minutes we saw her and started talking with her. We quickly set an appointment up for the next day. When we saw her on Sunday she was so kind, open and ELECT. She wants help in her life and is just super willing to try. She has problems with her shoulder and heart. She speaks a little funny and has been really made fun of a lot in her life for her disabilities. She's just a sweetheart is the best way to put it. I immediately could tell that the whole branch will just love her to death. We are going to see her in a few days to meet again.
Well just pray that our investigators can make progress.
Love you guys a lot...sorry I vented so much about the little feud between me and the member. I felt super, super bad after, and for that reason I quickly apologized.
Felice had his baptismal interview yesterday and is set to be baptized the 5th of August! We moved it back a week so he could come to sacrament meeting one additional time. He accepted tithing on Saturday after a wonderful lesson with us together with our Ward Mission Leader Steve and his wife Yajiara. They are super awesome and bore great testimony about the importance of paying tithing. Of course Felice's a bit worried about it, but knows it's a commandment.
Twum had fallen off a bit after giving us multiple bidones over a two week period. He's been good lately though and we've been going forward. We've reset his date for the 18th of August. We really want to help him understand things and be better committed to meeting with us and coming to church. If he's wiffy now he'll probably be wiffy after.
Ivano is just sort of teetering right now. He's making slow progress but at the same time not really. He comes to sacrament meeting almost every week but goes home afterward. His excuse for leaving is that his legs hurt and he has the bus to catch. We invited him this past week to attend all of church and he committed to coming for the first two hours. We accepted his bargain and were excited because we want him to become friends with the members. By coming just to the first hour he can't really talk with people because it's sacrament meeting. Well Sunday rolls around and right after sacrament meeting ends he says ''oggi perdo la promessa''. He tells us I have to break the promise. I ask him why and he says that he has to catch the bus. My patience has been thin lately. Heavenly Father is simple, we are blessed when we obey and when we don't we aren't blessed.
I told him really really bluntly that Heavenly Father can't bless him if he doesn't obey and show his Faith. I probably could have been a bit more kind or loving about it but Ivano has just not been making the progress he needs to. I think if anything though he saw that I was greatly disappointed because I was. The guy is great but he needs to really show his faith in Heavenly Father.
So actually my entire Sunday was just crazy. Romolo said he would come to church yet he wasn't home when we passed by to pick him up for church. His mom said he went on a bike ride with his squad. Our new converts said they had work to do at their house so half of them left after sacrament meeting.
I got a member to basically hate me after making a comment during Gospel Principles. The member is F. I will give a quick explanation. F is really really into deep doctrine. He's super smart and is always trying to tell us stuff. Well, since I've been here he comes to Gospel Principles which is for new member and investigators. For the last three or four weeks he has been getting lesson off-track and isn't super helpful. For example, last week we were talking about Faith. When we compared it to a plant he starts talking about how all plants and animals have their own spirits. He went really in depth about it; I won't explain the rest. Well when we finally got over that and continued with the lesson he started talking about it again. He brought it back to his subject and not the class subject.
Well this Sunday as we talked about repentance F starts talking about the Atonement. Of course they go together, I know that. Well he starts going into depth about there being many other worlds and what not. We finally get past that and continue on with the lesson and he continues commenting on the Atonement and other in depth principles of the Atonement. Let me remind you again this is with investigators and new converts. I had about enough of it so I quickly said, ''Torniamo al discorso''. I said we need to return to the lesson. It probably wasn't in the most polite tone but it wasn't a rude tone either.
During lunch time about two hours later while we were at home I get a call from F. He just starts talking my ear off. He was thinking that I was trying to correct him on the doctrine he'd been sharing with the class. I quickly said that that wasn't what I was trying to do. I explained that the class is a basic learning class and we need to leave out profound/in depth information. He just exploded about how the Atonement is the most important thing ever, which it is, and how it must always be taught. He went onto say, the spirit in Gospel Principles used to be great but since ''certain'' people have arrived it hasn't been the same.
Anyways he got super mad and I was a bit annoyed but not mad. It was evident he'd been just brewing over my ''torniamo al discorso'' comment. I was just amazed to see a first counsel/member of many years call me and explode on me like that. I quickly sent an apology text because my mind was racing and i wouldn't have been able to express myself in Italian. An hour or so later I called him and apologized again but it was evident he was upset. Oh well..
I feel a lot better having said sorry and repenting but I think he hates me now. Our ward mission leader told me that is just how F sort of is though. He said I shouldn't worry too much.
We all make mistakes.
On another note we found this really awesome investigator. Her name is Valentine and she's 24 years old. We found her the other night on the bike path right at the end of the day. We had been doing strada for awhile and we felt that we should stop and pray. We asked to know where to go and after the pray we both decided on the bike path. Within a few minutes we saw her and started talking with her. We quickly set an appointment up for the next day. When we saw her on Sunday she was so kind, open and ELECT. She wants help in her life and is just super willing to try. She has problems with her shoulder and heart. She speaks a little funny and has been really made fun of a lot in her life for her disabilities. She's just a sweetheart is the best way to put it. I immediately could tell that the whole branch will just love her to death. We are going to see her in a few days to meet again.
Well just pray that our investigators can make progress.
Love you guys a lot...sorry I vented so much about the little feud between me and the member. I felt super, super bad after, and for that reason I quickly apologized.
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